The Dawn of a New Age
by Snow-Nightshade
Summary: Dawn is an immortal and when evil threatens Middle-Earth, she decides to take action and decides to help Frodo and his quest to destroy the ring. Fem Harry... no pairings yet


It doesn't take much now to upset her. She had lived through and seen countless worlds and dimensions. It came with the annoying title of Master of Death, since the gods of magic had been trying to find an appropriate person for the job on the first world created. So Dawn was given the task of Master of Death, but she didn't have to personally see to everyone's death, just oversee the overall picture over the thousands of worlds and dimensions.

Dawn wasn't one to dwell on her new job, but she got the ultimate perk of seeing and doing nearly anything she wanted, once she got over the fact that she could be categorized as a major god. She didn't let any of this power get to her head, but she did help others with her massively evolved hero's complex. At time's she would help the beginning evolution of a certain planet or place, but sometimes she would have to intervene if the loss of life became too high.

Now, Dawn slept in an old forest she had helped grow in Middle-Earth and was guarded by the creatures she had created called Ents. These tree herders let her sleep in a sacred grove, until she had deemed it fine to wake up again, preferably when a new dimension or planet was being created.

The evil on Middle-Earth though, had other ideas. Dawn had not been around for the first war against Sauron, but she had come to hopefully intervene if another evil rose again on this young world. Now, Sauron was gaining power again and the one-ring was in the hands of a hobbit named Frodo who held it safe in its home of The Shire. Deep in her sleep, Dawn could hear the calls for help from the lands of Middle-Earth and awoke.

Dawn looked around and one of the Ents that had opted to stand watch for hundreds of years already was standing tall a few feet away. What really surprised the old Master of Death was that hundreds of animals had come to surround her place of rest, and each small animal came forth to cry in protest at the happenings of the land. "Lady Death, grave perils fall to the creatures outside of this forest." came the slow and deep voice of the Ent.

Dawn looked up with a raised eyebrow, "I had thought that Sauron was defeated along with his armies of orcs?"

The large Ent shook his head slowly and replied, "No, Lady Death, the dark lord has risen once again and the armies of men and elves have not begun their march."

Dawn nodded but slowly stood up from the padded silks that she had lain on for years and she stood tall for the first time in centuries. "Do you know what has been happening in the world of men and elves?"

"Not much, Lady Death, for there are few who venture deep into these woods." Dawn nodded her head in understanding and stretched causing her joints to pop, creating sickening cracks.

"I will come back once I endure council with the leaders of men, elves, and dwarves to see if preparations can be made." Dawn grabbed a leather pack that had lain at her feet on the silk padded pedestal and grabbed out a pair of soft leather breeches and a dark green tunic. She took off the long cream colored gown she wore and put on the breeches and tunic with ease. She fit on a black pair of leather boots and a leather belt that held her sword. A leather strap fit down across her chest and over her shoulder fitting a beautifully carved staff that represented her Elder Wand, a delicate silver necklace held the Resurrection Stone, and her hooded cloak that tied under her neck was her trusted Invisibility Cloak.

Dawn truly didn't need any of them anymore because she could become invisible at will, see the dead and help them pass on into the afterlife, and she could simply use her imagination to utilize her magic with ease. Her magic could be used with a simple thought and she could create anything within the scope of her imagination, but she would have to consciously be using that magic. It drained her to not use a focus so Dawn would often use her Elder staff or an Elder wand as the focus since nothing else worked.

Dawn gave as big a hug as she could to the three Ents that had guarded her sleeping body before she headed out to where she knew the One-Ring would be in The Shire. With a simple thought, Dawn transformed into a large bird of prey and with the aid of the natural wind, she flew towards The Shire.

With outstretched wings, Dawn glided just above the sparse cloud coverage. After an hour of flying, Dawn had to rest. She landed carefully on a tree branch and watched a herd of deer graze just below her tree. Within another hour, she was up in the sky again and enjoying the long flight. By the third nightfall, Dawn was within sight of a mountain range, but she stopped deciding to rest for the night.

It took only a couple more days to come within sight of The Shire and so she settled gingerly on a tall tree branch. Shaking out her sore muscles, Dawn listened in on a small group of gossiping hobbits, "I heard those screams and they woke me up from a dead sleep!" "Young Master Baggins already left; do you think they were after him?" "Such a queer lad, he was though, such a shame he couldn't just stay and live happily at Bag End."

Dawn gave a loud call scaring the wits out of the group of hobbits before swooping out of the tree and flying towards were she had felt the One-ring to be. She had thought that Frodo would have still been in The Shire but it seems she was wrong. She easily detected the energy and gave an inward frown at the feeling of Ring-wraths close to the ring.

She flew through the night and rested during the day before continuing on her way. It was already dark by the time she made it to a group of four hobbits. Two were awake and had made a fire but within minutes, the other two awoke and began panicking to put out the fire. She swooped down and beat her wings in the face of the panicking hobbits distracting them from the fire since the ring-wraths had already detected the hobbits and were on their way.

Loud shrieks translated into, **_"Get the Ring for the Master! Get the Ring, kill the Halflings!"_**

Dawn swooped forward in front of the four hobbits and changed back into her human form. She drew her sword and staff before answering back their twisted call, **_"You shall never get the ring!"_** the ring-wraths stopped in their attack and looked surprised at Dawn.

**_"_****_You Speak?"_** the leader asked in a cold lifeless voice. He reached forward and brushed his armored hand across the skin of her cheek and questioned, **_"How, how do you Speak when you are alive?"_**

**_"_****_I am as dead as I am alive, for I am Death." _**

The ring-wrath rubbed the skin of her face again and laughed, **_"You are not Death, for Death would not have stopped us from ascending to another plane of existence_****."**

Dawn gave the leader a sad look and answered, **_"I did not stop you, you stopped yourselves. With the enchantments of the rings of power, you each were bound to this plane until whatever binds you here has been broken. When you are finally free, I will personally walk with you to the other side."_**

**_"_****_Then we will kill the Halflings and take the ring to our Master!"_** the ring-wraths descended upon the four hobbits while Dawn tried to hold off the leader. A man jumped out from behind a stone wall and set fire to the robes of the attacking ring-wraths. Dawn heard the scream of pain from one of the hobbits and quickly used magic to banish the leader back to Mordor. She helped fight off the rest of the ring-wraths and turned to help the four hobbits when the cold steel of a blade rested threateningly on her neck.

"Who are you and how did you come to be here?" Dawn raised her weapons slowly and sheathed the sword first and then attached her staff onto her back.

"I am named Dawn, and I have come to help the ring-bearer get to Rivendell. We must hurry; I was not able to save young master Frodo from injury."

The man kept his sword raised threateningly, but looked over with worry at the four hobbits. "I heard you speak the tongue of the wraths, you could be a spy for all I know!"

"Then bind me to your horse as you make your way to Rivendell and I will speak with Lord Elrond myself; but your first priority would be to young master Frodo. You need to get some Atheas to help with the shard from the Morgul blade imbedded within Frodo. I am no good with healing especially compared to Lord Elrond, so we must make hast. Make your decision quick less the hobbit dies and your journey to end before it even began." The man lowered his sword and sheathed while warily watching Dawn's every movement.

He turned to Frodo and began using what little Atheas to slow down the poison from the blade. He lifted the hobbit onto the back of the pony and quickly gathered the rest of the equipment while Dawn helped where she could.

The three healthy hobbits kept giving weary glances in Dawn's direction until they heard the screams from the ring-wraths that kept getting closer and closer. "Aragorn son of Arathorn, continue on your quest to bring the young Master Frodo into the care of Lord Elrond." Aragorn looked back with surprise as Dawn pulled out her staff and sword.

"What do you intend to do?"

"I will hold them off for as long as I can, then I will hopefully meet up with you at Rivendell. Go, go before they catch up!" Aragorn nodded in understanding and continued to push the hobbits forward to hopefully cross the river into Rivendell.

Dawn turned her back on them and faced the ring-wraths that came down the path chasing after them on horse-back. **_"You shall not take that ring to your master! If you continue on your quest of the ring, I will forever bar the gates of the afterlife to you and your companions such is the punishment that will befall your Master!"_**

The leader laughed loudly and in a cold dead voice replied, **_"You are not Death, such as you claim to be! You are a measly human that will face the wrath of my blade!" _**He swung his blade down but Dawn brought up her staff to block his sword. Another of the creatures attacked and Dawn blocked with her sword. **_"Kill the Halflings! Bring me the Master's Ring!" _**

Dawn growled warningly at the fleeing ring-wraths and used her magic to create a barrier of magical fire around the ring-wraths and her. She continued to block the attacks of the now desperate wraths and jump away from the flailing hooves of their beasts until one got a lucky shot and blood spurted from her back. The barrier fell and the wraths urged their beasts forward leaving Dawn where she had fallen, blood pooling around her body. Dawn gasped as she got up on her hand and knees; she wiped away some blood from her cheek and used her magic to create another barrier.

The ring-wraths let out high pitched screams as the fire-barrier surrounded them, but Dawn couldn't hold out her magic long before the barrier dispelled again. Dawn fell to the floor in a splash of her own blood as she watched the creatures headed for Frodo and the Ring. Blackness closed in around her, and her eyes closed as she fell unconscious.

"Dawn!" yelled a voice from ahead of her. She struggled to open her eyes and saw Aragorn and a group of elves racing down the forest path on horses.

"The lady is over there!" one of the elves pointed out. The group guided their horses towards where she lay in a still damp pool of blood.

Dawn dragged her hand forward on the ground so she could try and grasp her staff. The group came forward and Aragorn jumped down from his horse to assess the damage. He ripped open the tunic easily not having to worry about her modesty since she was lying on her chest and began trying to bandage the wide gash that split skin and muscle from her shoulder to her hip. Blood continued to seep from the gaping wound even as Aragorn tried to stop the bleeding. One of the elves began trying to help bind the wound but nothing helped.

Aragorn watched helplessly as her bleeding slowly stopped, not because of clotting, but because there was no more blood to lose. He and the elves tried to help even though they watched the life fade from her eyes and they knew she had passed on to the Valar. They fit on a shirt over her now dried wound, and set her on a horse litter. Aragorn climbed back on his horse and glanced sorrowfully at the corpse of a woman he had barely known.

The group of elves and one man, made their way into Rivendell and Lord Elrond looked sadly at the corpse of Dawn and then to Aragorn, "I am sorry, it must have been too little too late."


End file.
